Parker’s Trail Gold Rush Spinoff

Parker Schnabel gets his own Outdoor Reality Show “Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail” after filming for the original series ended. Parker and his longtime foreman Rick Ness, Karla Ann, and cameraman James Lavelle hike the gold-rich Klondike Trail. The Klondike Trail attracted over 100,000 gold miners from around the world willing to risk their lives to stake a claim. But less than 1 out of 3 people had what it takes to make the journey.

Do Parker Schnabel and his hiking team have what it takes to complete the Klondike Trail?

When the gold mining season ends, Parker and his crew usually head back to civilization or off on a well-deserved vacation. This season Parker and Rick Ness hike Canada’s brutal Klondike trail, tackling one of most challenging journeys known to man. Their epic adventure was captured for Discovery Channel’s new spin-off: Gold Rush: Parker’s Trail.

Between 1896 and 1899, more than 100,000 people attempted the dangerous trip northwards into the frozen Klondike searching for the riches provided by the Klondike gold fields. Most found hardship or tragedy in the unforgiving wilderness. Only around 1 out of 3 people who attempted the trail reached their destinations.

In Parker’s Trail, Schnabel and Ness try to replicate the trials and tribulations of their gold-mining forbears and to see if they have what it would have taken to be gold miners in the early 20th century.

History of the Klondike Gold Rush

Klondike Gold Rush – Wikipedia To reach the gold fields most took the route through the ports of Dyea and Skagway in Southeast Alaska. Here, the Klondikers follow to the Yukon River and sail down to the Klondike. Each of them was required to bring a year’s supply of food by the Canadian authorities to prevent starvation. In all, their equipment weighed close to a ton, which for most was carried in stages by themselves.

Various factors lay behind this sudden mass response. Economically, the news reached the US at the height of a series of financial recessions in the 1890s. The gold standard of the time tied paper money to the production of gold and shortages towards the end of the 19th century meant gold dollars rapidly increased in value. There was a huge demand for gold across the developed world that the Klondike promised to fulfill.